A weapon powerful enough to do 600 times the damage done to Hiroshima was dismantled in Texas last week, nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War.
These bombs were so powerful that they could create a crater 750 feet deep, killing everything within a 9-10 mile radius and spreading radioactivity for hundreds of miles.
This disassembly marks a milestone nearing the end of nuclear weaponry as we know it. These bombs were developed in an attempt to keep the U.S.S.R. at bay and keep the world from a nuclear holocaust. The phrase “mutually assured destruction” was the prominent phase of the era, and one that was as truthful as it was scary. This dismantling is one step in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by President Barack Obama and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev last year.
The dismantling of nuclear weapons is an important symbolic gesture to the world, demonstrating that the United States and Russia are serious about using diplomacy rather than weapons to restore and maintain peaceful relations.
The Cold War was something that most of our generation never had to think about beyond the bounds of history class. The threat of a nuclear holocaust was real to many of our parents, many of whom not only did “duck and cover” drills at school, but also would run to fallout shelters constructed underneath them.
The fact that our generation does not constantly think about nuclear war protocol makes us blessed. It was always the goal to end the threat of nuclear war; no one took solace in the thought of mutually assured destruction.
Ronald Reagan said “It is my fervent goal and hope … that we will someday no longer have to rely on nuclear weapons to deter aggression and assure world peace. To that end, the United States is now engaged in a serious and sustained effort to negotiate major reductions in levels of offensive nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal of eliminating these weapons from the face of the earth.”
However, the threat of nuclear war is not in our past, as North Korea and Iran have shown little to no cooperation in not seeking to attain nuclear weapons.
While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assures the international community that nuclear weapons are things of the past, he refuses to open his labs for inspection in compliance to international protocols.
We don't know how much uranium Iran has, how quickly they are enriching it, and if they are enriching it to weapons grade. This is coming from a man who has made no secret of his desire to destroy Israel and the Jews who live there.
There's a very big reason why the United States hasn't just given up nuclear weapons; we fear that one day we may need to use their existence to deter rogue nations like Iran.
So while this gesture of goodwill to Russia through the compliance with the New START treaty is admirable, it's a small gesture in a world where the five-ton nuclear bomb is already outdated.
Nuclear weapons don't need to weigh five tons to be damning. Now they are lightweight, laser-guided and can pack an even larger punch.
The Cold War of the U.S.S.R. era may be over, but don’t make a mistake in thinking that there isn't another Cold War going on now, or at least looming ahead in the not-too-distant future.
The game isn’t over, only the players have changed.
Reach the columnist at page.gerrick@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
